Haarms' perfect night helps No. 14 Purdue over Illinois

[February 28, 2019]  Locked in a tie with less than 10 minutes to play, No. 14 Purdue reeled off 12 points in a row to seize a 73-56 Big Ten victory over visiting Illinois on Wednesday night in West Lafayette, Ind.

Junior guard Carsen Edwards scored a game-high 23 points while junior center Matt Haarms added a career-high 21 points with 10 rebounds and 5 blocks as the Boilermakers (21-7, 14-3 Big Ten) won their 16th straight home game and rejoined Michigan State atop the league standings.

Illinois (10-18, 6-11) dropped its third game in a row as a fast start turned sour. The Illini scored just eight points in the final 9:43 as they shot 32.8 percent from the field and 27.6 percent on 3-pointers. Junior guard Andres Feliz and freshman guard Ayo Dosunmu paced the visitors with nine points apiece.

Illinois, which had not won at Purdue since 2008, looked solid early despite the benching of leading scorer Trent Frazier. The sophomore failed to start for just the second time this season. Frazier entered the game nearly eight minutes in.

Illinois hit 5 of 8 3-pointers in the first 14 minutes to build a 27-21 lead, but Purdue answered with nine points in a row in the next two minutes to take a 30-27 edge.

Edwards started the mini-spree with a lefty drive and his first 3-pointer of the night, then senior guard Ryan Cline cashed a stepback jumper and Haarms added a putback to force Illinois to take a timeout.

Illinois recovered to take a 33-32 halftime lead as the Illini bench contributed 14 points while Purdue's bench offered none. Haarms hit all five of his shots -- all putbacks or layups -- for a game-high 10 points as Edwards added nine while playing all 20 minutes.

The Illinois Fighting Illini warm up before the game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

Purdue seized control from the outset of the second half. On its first possession, Illinois double-teamed the ballhandler and left Edwards unguarded for a 3-pointer. Then Edwards drove for a layup and Cline got behind the defense for a transition layup to take a 39-33 lead with 18:25 to play.

Purdue's lead swelled as large as nine before Illinois recovered. The Illini pulled into a 48-48 tie with 9:43 to go when Feliz drove coast-to-coast and had his layup goaltended. But when Feliz missed the accompanying free throw that would have earned the lead, it seemed to spur Purdue.

The Boilermakers reeled off 12 straight points -- sparked by an Edwards driving layup and capped by a Haarms dunk -- to regain a 60-48 lead with 6:19 left. Haarms finished perfect from the field (8 of 8) as well as the line (4 of 4) while enjoying his finest performance.

--Field Level Media

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